Chileans Want Day Off During "End of the World"

Dec. 7, 2012

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The Guardian reports that a preliminary investigation by Mexico City's human rights commission has found evidence that police repressed protesters during the inauguration of President Enrique Peña Nieto last weekend. The ongoing investigation claims that 22 of 69 people arrested on Saturday were taken in by police with no justified cause. These people were put in jail on charges that they rioted and disturbed the public peace, but they may have been confused with masked protesters who vandalized businesses and public spaces last Saturday. The investigation by Mexico City's Human Rights Commission also claims that at least four detainees may have been tortured in jail.

Teacher Fired Over Screening of "Milk"

A middle school psychologist was recently fired from an expensive Mexico City private school, for screening Milk to her classroom of 13 and 14-year-olds. The incident has sparked a lively debate about discrimination against homosexuals in Mexico, and about what sort of values kids are being taught at school.

The school that is under the spotlight is called Lomas Hill, and in an official statement the school said that it fired teacher Cecilia Hernandez, because Milk is an R-rated film and Hernandez showed it to teenagers without seeking parental consent. But on her Twitter account, Hernandez has published an aggressive email message sent to her by school principal Annette Muench, in which the principal chides Hernandez for showing this Oscar-winning film on gay rights and calls it "a piece of trash."

Hernandez appeared on several Mexican news shows this week and even had a debate with Muench on a local radio station, where she revealed that Muench's son was one of her students. "I wish you knew what it was like to be a mother," Muench told Hernandez. "You should not talk to me as a mother, but as a school official," Hernandez replied.

Chileans Don't Want to Work During "End of the World"

Superstitions about what could happen on December 21st seem to be big in the South American nation of Chile. In a telephone survey conducted in that country by the website, Trabajando.com , 24 percent of respondents said that they will ask their employers for the day off on December 21st, with almost half of these respondents saying that they will do so because they are "very superstitious." The 21st of December marks the end of a 5,000 year long period of the Mayan Calendar, known as the 13th Baktun. Some western mystics have said that this date represents "the end of the world," while others describe it as a period of renewal, or as a chance to connect with Mother Earth.